Assessment of Tritium Breeding Requirements for Fusion Power Reactors

Assessment of Tritium Breeding Requirements for Fusion Power Reactors
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1983
Genre:
ISBN:

This report presents an assessment of tritium-breeding requirements for fusion power reactors. The analysis is based on an evaluation of time-dependent tritium inventories in the reactor system. The method presented can be applied to any fusion systems in operation on a steady-state mode as well as on a pulsed mode. As an example, the UWMAK-I design was analyzed and it has been found that the startup inventory requirement calculated by the present method significantly differs from those previously calculated. The effect of reactor-parameter changes on the required tritium breeding ratio is also analyzed for a variety of reactor operation scenarios.

Tritium Inventories and Associated Tritium Breeding Requirement for Fusion Power Reactors

Tritium Inventories and Associated Tritium Breeding Requirement for Fusion Power Reactors
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1984
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper presents an assessment of tritium-breeding requirement for fusion power reactors. The analysis is based on an evaluation of time-dependent tritium inventories in the reactor system. The method presented can be applied to any fusion systems in operation on a steady-state mode as well as on a pulsed mode. The effect of reactor-parameter changes on the required tritium breeding ratio is analyzed for a variety of reactor operation scenarios.

Tritium Breeding Blanket for a Commercial Fusion Power Plant -A System Engineering Assessment

Tritium Breeding Blanket for a Commercial Fusion Power Plant -A System Engineering Assessment
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 31
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

The goal of developing a new source of electric power based on fusion has been pursued for decades. If successful, future fusion power plants will help meet growing world-wide demand for electric power. A key feature and selling point for fusion is that its fuel supply is widely distributed globally and virtually inexhaustible. Current world-wide research on fusion energy is focused on the deuterium-tritium (DT for short) fusion reaction since it will be the easiest to achieve in terms of the conditions (e.g., temperature, density and confinement time of the DT fuel) required to produce net energy. Over the past decades countless studies have examined various concepts for TBBs for both magnetic fusion energy (MFE) and inertial fusion energy (IFE). At this time, the key organizations involved are government sponsored research organizations world-wide. The near-term focus of the MFE community is on the development of TBB mock-ups to be tested on the ITER tokamak currently under construction in Caderache France. TBB concepts for IFE tend to be different from MFE primarily due to significantly different operating conditions and constraints. This report focuses on longer-term commercial power plants where the key stakeholders include: electric utilities, plant owner and operator, manufacturer, regulators, utility customers, and in-plant subsystems including the heat transfer and conversion systems, fuel processing system, plant safety systems, and the monitoring control systems.

Tritium: Fuel of Fusion Reactors

Tritium: Fuel of Fusion Reactors
Author: Tetsuo Tanabe
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2016-12-05
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 4431564608

This book focuses on tritium as a fuel for fusion reactors and a next-generation energy source. Following an introduction of tritium as a hydrogen radioisotope, important issues involved in establishing safe and economical tritium fuel cycles including breeding for a fusion reactor are summarized; these include the handling of large amounts of tritium: confinement, leakage, contamination, permeation, regulation and tritium accountancy, and impacts on surrounding areas. Targeting and encouraging the students and technicians who will design and operate fusion reactors in the near future, this book offers a valuable resource on tritium science and technology.

An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy

An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2013-07-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309272246

The potential for using fusion energy to produce commercial electric power was first explored in the 1950s. Harnessing fusion energy offers the prospect of a nearly carbon-free energy source with a virtually unlimited supply of fuel. Unlike nuclear fission plants, appropriately designed fusion power plants would not produce the large amounts of high-level nuclear waste that requires long-term disposal. Due to these prospects, many nations have initiated research and development (R&D) programs aimed at developing fusion as an energy source. Two R&D approaches are being explored: magnetic fusion energy (MFE) and inertial fusion energy (IFE). An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy describes and assesses the current status of IFE research in the United States; compares the various technical approaches to IFE; and identifies the scientific and engineering challenges associated with developing inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in particular as an energy source. It also provides guidance on an R&D roadmap at the conceptual level for a national program focusing on the design and construction of an inertial fusion energy demonstration plant.

Predictive Methods and Analysis of Time Dependent Tritium Flow Rates and Inventories in Fusion Systems

Predictive Methods and Analysis of Time Dependent Tritium Flow Rates and Inventories in Fusion Systems
Author: marco riva
Publisher:
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

In nuclear fusion reactors, tritium dynamics plays a dominant role. An unprecedented amount of tritium is consumed in Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) nuclear fusion reactors, ~0.5 kg per day for 3 GW fusion power. However, tritium is radioactive, has short half-life (~12.33 years), and is present in nature in negligible concentration. Because of tritium scarcity, future fusion power reactors must be self-sufficient, i.e. the reactor must have a closed fuel cycle where tritium is produced in greater amounts than it is consumed. Furthermore, nuclear fusion reactors must accumulate and provide tritium start-up inventory for the next generation of fusion power plants, since natural reserves of tritium are very limited. Moreover, because of its radioactive nature, tritium presents a serious hazard to the personnel and has implications to safety and nuclear licensing. Accurate predictive models of the nuclear fusion fuel cycle are required to effectively design the fuel cycle components, understand tritium dynamics in the fusion fuel cycle, and determine the technology and physics requirements to attain tritium self-sufficiency. Moreover, accurate predictions of tritium inventories and flow rates within fusion components, and estimations of tritium releases to the environment are necessary for nuclear licensing. In this dissertation, two numerical models are developed to perform tritium transport assessment within fusion systems. First, a high fidelity numerical model is developed to simulate time-dependent tritium transport within the reactor outer fuel cycle (OFC). Detailed (high resolution) component-level models, where constitutive transport equations are implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics and solved for various fusion sub-systems, are integrated into system-level with the use of MATLAB/Simulink S-Functions to reproduce typical OFC tritium streams. The model is applied to the KOrean Helium Cooled Ceramic Reflector Test Blanket System (KO-HCCR TBS) which will be tested in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). However, the developed model offers some flexibility and can be applied to other Test Blanket Module (TBM) designs. Second, the overall fusion fuel cycle is modeled analytically by a system of time-dependent zero-dimensional ordinary differential equations with the tritium mean residence time method. This technique yields results useful for understanding the overall fuel cycle dynamics and the importance of certain components and parameters. The analysis of tritium inventories and flow rates is extended to determine the physics and technology requirements to attain tritium self-sufficiency. In particular, the state-of-the-art plasma physics and technology parameters (e.g. tritium burn fraction, fueling efficiency, processing times, etc.) and up-to-date fuel cycle design are considered in the analysis. The tritium self-sufficiency assessment and tritium start-up inventory evaluation are performed to investigate: (i) the effect of the reactor operating scenario and availability factor, e.g. to account for random failures and ordinary maintenance, (ii) the scenarios for commercialization, e.g. risk associated with tritium reserve inventory reduction, (iii) the penetration of fusion energy into power market, e.g. effect of the doubling time, and (iv) the effect of reactor power on tritium start-up inventory, e.g. for plasma-based test facilities, DEMOnstration reactors (DEMO), and power reactors. The results highlight the physics and technology R&D requirements to attain fuel self-sufficiency in fusion reactors.

Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets

Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2013-07-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309270626

In the fall of 2010, the Office of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Secretary for Science asked for a National Research Council (NRC) committee to investigate the prospects for generating power using inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concepts, acknowledging that a key test of viability for this concept-ignition -could be demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the relatively near term. The committee was asked to provide an unclassified report. However, DOE indicated that to fully assess this topic, the committee's deliberations would have to be informed by the results of some classified experiments and information, particularly in the area of ICF targets and nonproliferation. Thus, the Panel on the Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets ("the panel") was assembled, composed of experts able to access the needed information. The panel was charged with advising the Committee on the Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems on these issues, both by internal discussion and by this unclassified report. A Panel on Fusion Target Physics ("the panel") will serve as a technical resource to the Committee on Inertial Confinement Energy Systems ("the Committee") and will prepare a report that describes the R&D challenges to providing suitable targets, on the basis of parameters established and provided to the Panel by the Committee. The Panel on Fusion Target Physics will prepare a report that will assess the current performance of fusion targets associated with various ICF concepts in order to understand: 1. The spectrum output; 2. The illumination geometry; 3. The high-gain geometry; and 4. The robustness of the target design. The panel addressed the potential impacts of the use and development of current concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy on the proliferation of nuclear weapons information and technology, as appropriate. The Panel examined technology options, but does not provide recommendations specific to any currently operating or proposed ICF facility.

Controlled Nuclear Fusion

Controlled Nuclear Fusion
Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Nuclear and Alternative Energy Systems. Fusion Assessment Resource Group
Publisher:
Total Pages: 64
Release: 1978
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: